Events resume

Since moving to Henley, I have gradually become more active in the local musical community. St. Mary the Virgin is the prominent church in the center of town, with a strong volunteer choir. I attended one rehearsal and a service as a new chorister before the summer vacation started. Mark and I were even eagerly invited to the end of the year BBQ hosted by the vicar and his wife. Apparently the UK has added an eleventh commandment that says: thou shalt not sing choral music outside of term time... Basically none of the choirs I am involved with, including St. Mary's had any events.
This morning, the choir of St. Mary's resumed a week early to celebrate a joint, sung matins service at St. Nicholas, Remenham. Ten choristers, including myself wandered down the road the church and were greeted with a must appreciated pre-rehearsal coffee and breakfast. Despite the pouring, cold rain, it didn't dampen the enthusiasm of all the organizers and participants from both church communities!

King's College, Cambridge

At the request of a colleague from the Oxford Bach Choir, I was asked to be part of a smaller version of the ensemble to sing for a prestigious wedding in King's College, Cambridge. I couldn't believe it!! Plans for the event were hazy, but due to politics behind the scenes hindering the process, I agreed to help for the event. It later transpired that I was asked to sing as the soloist!!
During the three rehearsals preceding the service, we prepared to sing a few hymns, the first movement from Vivaldi's Gloria, the first movement of Bach's Wedding Cantat BWV 196 and the Mozart Laudate Dominum arranged for Soprano soloist and choir. In the final rehearsal, three days before the event, it was revealed that the parents of the bride had decided to fly a singing friend in from Switzerland to sing as a gift to the bride but, just in case all went tits-up did I have the Mozart Alleluia in my rep. At this point my role had evolved from chorister, to chorister/soloist and finally to chorister/understudy.
We arrived in Cambridge well in advance of the scheduled rehearsal and each of us had various pick-nicks on or near the college. At 3pm we shuffled into the chapel and prepared to practice amidst flocks of tourists for the 5pm wedding. It wasn't until 3:25pm that suddenly the soloist emerged. I ignored the urge to hiss, and conceded as gracefully as possible. The rehearsal proceeded and the service went off without a hitch with the family, and most especially the bride being very moved by the significance of our contribution.
Regardless of the outcome, over all it was a perfect day! My only regret about the experience was not being able to vocally let rip at least once, just to experience the luxuriously magnificent acoustics of King's! I'm crossing my fingers that this means I'm destined to go back in a more specific capacity ;)

Summer?!

Apparently summer has come and practically gone in the blink of an eye. The worst of it being that I think I can count the number of sunny and warm days since May on one hand!When the sun has come out, it tends to appear in our back garden. This of course lead me to the inevitable conclusion that our garden has a weather system of its own... As you can see from the picture above, the sun is actually peeking out from behind some fluffy looking clouds.However, had you been looking out the front windows on the same day these black clouds were all that could be seen for miles. It confuses me to no end, especially when I choose to do laundry and need to hang it outside!
When we moved into our little abode, it came with a ready made, easy to tend garden. The simplicity is fabulous, except I despise the palm tree looking things... Nothing I can really do about it as it's a rental and I don't feel like replanting anything for the short term. I've mastered the art of weeding on a 60 degree angle though, since our garden is part of a larger incline.
The one thing I have chosen to let run rampant, from an empty plot of land behind our garden is either raspberry or blackberry vine-like tentacles. This is partly because they are something to distract me from the hideous palm branches and secondly because I don't seem to have any gardening implements of sharpness to hack them off. The plant in the picture above is in the very center of the lawn and is thriving since we don't need to cut the grass. It is mind boggling really, but since it seems happy, I see no reason to evict it! However if it fails to give me berries at the end of the summer it will likely be... um... removed...

Quarter Peal

Yesterday evening Mark and I made the journey north to the land of Cotswald stone and thatched cottages where we were going to the blessing service of the Peal Board in memory of my Dad. The group of us, family, friends and bell ringers held a little service and then rang quarter peal of grandsire triples. It was the first peal since 2004 that I rang a bell other than the tenor!
Those who weren't ringing headed back to the Vicarage to start up the BBQ and set out the festivities. Because all the furniture from the house had already been moved, we gathered in a circle around the box-like table all seated on lawn chairs. Mark did a wonderful job of manning the BBQ, with a poignantly appropriate Hooky at hand! We subsequently had a wonderful evening of catching up and unwinding with plenty of food and decadent home made deserts!